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Which GOP lawmakers have ever demanded a president's resignation and how did their reasons compare to calls against Trump?
Executive summary
Republican lawmakers have publicly demanded a president resign in at least two well-documented historical contexts: after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack when then‑House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said he would urge President Trump to resign (recorded in 2021) [1], and more recently many House and Senate Republicans called for President Joe Biden to resign or be removed under the 25th Amendment amid concerns about his age and cognitive fitness after he left the 2024 race (roundups of GOP calls compiled by AllSides) [2]. Available sources do not provide a comprehensive, single list of every GOP lawmaker who has ever demanded a president’s resignation; reporting instead highlights prominent instances and leaders [1] [2].
1. A rare public break: McCarthy on Jan. 6 — “I think it will pass and it would be my recommendation he should resign”
The clearest example in the provided reporting is Kevin McCarthy’s post‑Jan. 6 comment captured on audio in April 2022, where McCarthy told fellow Republicans he would urge then‑President Trump to resign in the aftermath of January 6 — a moment that reporters flagged as a striking, if short‑lived, rupture within GOP leadership [1]. That episode was framed as reactive to the Capitol attack and the immediate political and legal fallout, rather than the kind of sustained, multiplatform campaign to remove a president.
2. Collective GOP calls against Biden in 2024–25: health, age and the 25th Amendment
Following President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, multiple House Republicans and some GOP senators publicly urged resignation or invocation of the 25th Amendment, citing concerns about his “health” and “cognitive ability,” and at times asking Vice President Harris or the cabinet to act (AllSides summary) [2]. Reporting emphasizes that GOP media and leadership framed their demands around fitness for office and the constitutional mechanism of the 25th Amendment, while Democrats pushed back against those calls [2].
3. Different motivations: behavior and legality vs. fitness and age
The McCarthy example was framed in many outlets as a response to an acute event — the Jan. 6 insurrection and its implications for presidential conduct — whereas the GOP calls against Biden emphasized ongoing concerns about health and cognitive capacity, seeking resignation or a 25th‑Amendment pathway [1] [2]. The sources show competing narratives: in McCarthy’s moment, urgency sprang from alleged actions around January 6 [1]; in the Biden episode, Republicans foregrounded age and ability to govern as the rationale [2].
4. Partisan context and media framing matter
AllSides’ compilation shows the GOP push to invoke the 25th Amendment was amplified by right‑leaning outlets such as Fox News and National Review, while left‑leaning coverage often framed the situation mainly as calls to “resign,” not immediate 25th‑Amendment action — illustrating how outlet choice shapes public perception of GOP demands [2]. The sources show Democrats uniformly pushed back against Republican demands in the Biden case, underlining the partisan divide in both rationale and response [2].
5. Limits of the available reporting: not a definitive roster
Available sources do not present a definitive, exhaustive list of every Republican lawmaker who has ever demanded any president’s resignation; instead they highlight prominent incidents and leadership statements [1] [2]. For instance, the AllSides piece aggregates many GOP calls after Biden’s announcement but does not list every member by name in the excerpts provided here [2].
6. Implicit agendas and political incentives
When Republicans urged Biden to resign citing fitness, outlets and opponents suggested political incentives—weakening a Democratic incumbent or energizing a GOP narrative about competence—were part of the calculus; conversely, McCarthy’s private remark about urging Trump to resign was later superseded by his political alignment with Trump, illustrating how party discipline and electoral calculations shape whether resignation calls endure [1] [2]. The available reporting highlights that public resignation demands often coexist with strategic considerations about governing power and upcoming elections [2] [1].
7. Takeaway for readers: compare rationale, not just rhetoric
Across these episodes the substantive difference is clear in the sources: McCarthy’s remark was tied to a discrete crisis of conduct around Jan. 6 [1], while the GOP’s calls regarding Biden emphasize ongoing questions of health and cognitive fitness and invoke the 25th Amendment as the mechanism [2]. Readers should note that media framing and partisan incentives shape which calls are amplified and whether they persist; the sources here do not attempt to catalogue every GOP lawmaker who has ever demanded a resignation but do document these emblematic moments [1] [2].